"So what have you been meeting so often with Dumbledore about?" Harry asked casually.

They had just finished breakfast; Harry opting for a lighter meal of porridge with fruit and granola along with a glass of orange juice which was such a pleasant surprise - since he'd never seen any at the castle during the school year - that he didn't care how awful it would be to sick it up later. He had a suspicion that Snape purchased it himself from a muggle shop.

"Why do you think it's any of your business?"

Harry frowned. In the short time he'd spent with Snape, he quickly learned the professor liked to answer a question with a question. It was outright annoying sometimes.

"Since I'm the one with a prophecy about me to kill Voldemort, I'm pretty sure anything about the war involves me. It's not like I expect you'll tell me anyway, but it was worth a try."

"Au contraire," Snape started, putting down the Daily Prophet, an interesting choice Harry hadn't expected his professor to be caught dead reading, "if this last year has taught us anything, it is that you do better with select information than none at all."

Harry would have gotten angry if Snape hadn't practically admitted, for the second time this summer, that he would tell Harry some information if it was warranted, which was better than Dumbledore telling him none at all. It was almost worth living in the dungeon quarters; maybe Ron was on to something.

"This, however," Snape continued taking a careful sip of coffee, "does not concern you nor your prophecy."

Harry thought the Potions Master seemed nervous and for some reason guessed it had to do with his spying duties. While no one flat out told him Snape was discovered as a traitor to Voldemort, he knew enough to guess something like that had probably happened. Every time Snape needed to leave now it was always to see Dumbledore and to Harry's knowledge he hadn't been summoned since Privet Drive. Before the attack, Snape was called at least every week. Something was up and if he didn't already have enough to focus on, he probably would have pushed harder to find out. As it was, he had plenty to keep his mind from wandering too far.

"Fine," Harry cringed just knowing that Snape would not like that response. "Can we please go and get this over with?"

Snape gave a hard sigh, "Absolutely, after you."

With his leg in a cast, Harry couldn't floo to the hospital wing, so they walked upstairs in silence. He really couldn't imagine having to navigate this every day, so he was silently thankful that if something like this had to happen, it was over the summer. Of course that didn't stop the school ghosts or Peeves from watching and commenting - not so silently in Peeves' case - on him hobbling throughout the castle.

By the time he got to the hospital wing, where both Madam Pomfrey and Healer Smithe were waiting near a bed with a tray of medical equipment on the left side, he remembered that the only time he'd had this particular procedure done was when his port was put in. This time, he wouldn't be sleeping for it. Suddenly, where he was usually anxious to get treatments over with, he was now so nervous he thought he might see his breakfast earlier than expected.

"Good morning Mister Potter," Madam Pomfrey greeted him with an apologetic look in her eyes, while showing him to the bed. Harry thought this must be strange for the matron, having to do so many muggle procedures.

"Morning," Harry mumbled, taking a seat and feeling like he was in a fish bowl with everyone watching him. Facing his healer, he asked "Can you walk me through this one again?"

"Of course," Healer Smithe stepped up to the side of the bed. "This will be done almost exactly like the spinal tap we did before you started treatments, but instead of taking fluids out I'll be injecting them in. For this one, you'll be laying on your left side in the fetal position, which will be much more comfortable when fluids are going in."

Harry went to lay down, but was stopped by the healer.

"Before we start," he explained, "we need to do a blood test and I'd like to get you started on the antiemetic. You didn't take the tablet this morning, correct?"

Harry had started back on his daily medications once his fever broke in the hospital wing, but he hadn't restarted that one yet. He luckily hadn't needed it and the dread immediately returned thinking that he would once again be sick.

"No sir, I haven't."

"Good. If it's ok with you," Healer Smithe continued while taking out the supplies needed for the blood sample and his antiemetic medication, "I'd like Madam Pomfrey to help out specifically with the port. She'll be giving me a hand with the chemo this week and throughout your school year."

It wasn't like he really had much of a choice, but they had warned him that she'd be involved at some point, so he didn't complain. He just nodded and leaned back on the pillows allowing the healer to walk the medi-witch through how to draw blood and hook up the medications. His cheeks flushed when Madam Pomfrey started cleaning the port and flushing it out with the saline solution, which was done each time before it was used. At this point Harry was comfortable with the whole process, but he was still a little embarrassed about it all, especially when someone saw him or his port for the first time.

In hindsight, he was happy he had been asleep during the first Intrathecal chemo because it really was an awful feeling. Having been through everything this last month, he now knew what to expect and that seemed to make it harder to sit still during the procedure. Eventually, Snape had to hold his neck and legs and when they finally made it through, Healer Smithe recommended the next time to use a type of muggle light sedation medication on him beforehand. Harry was again required to stay flat to allow the medication to distribute, which was a visual he could have done without.

By the time he'd made it back to Snape's quarters, it was past lunchtime and he picked at the scrambled eggs Snape had prepared. According to Healer Smithe, scrambled eggs was one of the best foods to try during chemo, the next being the smoothies.

"I think I'm going to lay down for a bit," he finally said, giving up on his lunch.

"I'll help get you settled," Snape said, standing up holding a muggle cup with a lid and straw full of water and a smoothie to supplement the uneaten lunch. Harry did not like being treated as a toddler, which was exactly how he was feeling right now.

"I don't need help," Harry complained. It was a second too late because he went to grab the cup, but couldn't figure out how to take both cups into his bedroom using the crutches. This would not be an issue if he could use magic, of course he wouldn't have the bloody cast to begin with if he could use magic anyway.

"Fine," he conceded, sounding defeated, leaving the kitchen for his bedroom.

Harry had just gotten settled into bed, with the pail next to him just in case, when a piece of parchment popped up in front of Snape. Harry tried to sneak a peek to see who had arrived at the door and was able to catch Dumbledore and what he thought was Malfoy before Snape incinerated the parchment - nonverbally and wandlessly, of course. After making sure Harry had the sphere for emergencies, he abruptly left. The Gryffindor resisted the urge to go eavesdrop, he was far too tired anyway.

~~~~SS~~~~

Thursday evening after getting Harry settled from the IT chemo, Severus was in his personal potions laboratory trying - and if he was honest with himself, failing - to prepare the new stock of potions for the hospital wing. He'd uncharacteristically let the calming draught he was working on boil too long in the cauldron and was now on his 3rd attempt. His mind kept going back to the last several days he'd spent with Albus and unfortunately Moody.

At first, they had been focusing on strategizing ways to get Severus back in the Dark Lord's good standing. Without someone on the inside, to not only ascertain information on Voldemort's plans but also feed strategically misleading information to him, they were at a disadvantage they could not afford this early into the war. However, without knowing exactly what Dolohov reported back, it was an extremely dangerous mission; one that neither he nor Albus were ready to attempt yet. Then there was the fact that he had not been summoned since the failed attack, which was definitely not a good sign for his future in espionage. He would almost rather have gotten summoned, taken his punishment, and worked his way out with an explanation for fighting against one of their own. He could have easily turned the situation around in his favor, but everyday that went by without getting that opportunity, the more hopeless that situation became.

In a matter of only a few weeks, he'd managed to derail his counterpart's position and that made him furious with himself. He couldn't tell if his allegiance had been discovered prior to the attack, but even if it had, he could have handled the situation better. He hadn't been thinking straight that night and now their side was being penalized for it.

At the top of all his thoughts, at least as high as Harry at this time, was the Malfoy situation. On Monday, Severus was called to Grimmauld Place where he was surprised to see Draco Malfoy bound to a chair with Albus and Moody standing on either side of him. It took a second to read this situation and not react to it immediately, just in case it was somehow a test.

"Severus," the headmaster greeted him, drawing the professor into the dining room, "young Mr. Malfoy contacted me last night with an interesting proposition that we'd like your expert opinion on."

Narrowing his eyes, he quickly went through the recent memories he had of Draco Malfoy in this reality and sighed in relief that their relationship was more or less the same as his old reality.

"And what proposition is this," he asked, meeting Albus's sharp blue eyes.

"Mr. Malfoy has told us that he's to take the dark mark at the start of next month," Albus explained with calculated words. Severus looked warily at Draco trying not to feel sympathy for his Slytherin student. Unfortunately, it was not surprising to hear no matter how much he wished to prevent such an occurrence in any of his Slytherins. "And apparently he has heard of your position, or now lack thereof, and has offered to fill in your place."

Severus didn't trust any of the Malfoy's and did not have any qualms stating so, "My expert opinion on the matter is that knowing the Dark Lord as I do, he would likely orchestrate this exact scenario as a way to infiltrate the Order. Do not forget, he lost what he assumed was his informant as well. He would go through great lengths to get another in my place."

Draco didn't flinch when Severus came to meet him nose to nose and in his dark baritone voice the professor asked, "Why should we trust a single thing you tell us?

"You're absolutely right," Draco called out, confidence dripping from his voice, "he wants me placed here to spy for him, but I don't want to do it! He's going to lose and then what? He won't come and help when all his followers end up in Azkaban."

Severus couldn't help thinking back to how he must have appeared to Albus on the night he asked for help protecting Lily. Why had Albus eventually trusted him? How was that any different than what Draco was claiming now? Was it because he was trying to save someone else and Draco's was pure self-preservation? In the end, even after using targeted Legilimency, the simple fact was that it could be detrimental to trust Draco. Until they could know for sure, Draco was to stay at Grimmauld place under strict guards.

That was where Severus spent the day yesterday, while Molly and Ron visited with Harry. Albus finally consented to the use of Veritaserum, which Draco had been asking to use to prove his true intentions. After a grueling interrogation - even one Severus would not want to be subjected to - they could not find any reason to believe the blonde teenager had been dishonest. While it was true that Draco's first mission from the Dark Lord was to gain the Order's trust, Draco indeed believed that Voldemort will be defeated and he didn't want to go down with him. Not the best or most stable reason to trust Draco, but in the end Severus didn't think Draco would have been able to withstand the last couple of days plus the interrogation if he hadn't truly wanted to help them.

It left Severus exactly one week to work with Draco and get him ready to stand beside the darkest wizard of their time with every intention to betray him, all while not getting himself killed; and of course it had to be the same week Harry was starting the continuous chemo. Just thinking about it all gave him a migraine; it was no wonder he couldn't concentrate on brewing a potion he taught to his fourth years.

It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that he needed to ask for help. Since only he could get Draco up to the standard he needed to be, and that was going to be a stretch to begin with, that left few options for Harry. He hated the idea of leaving Harry at the hospital wing under Madam Pomfrey's care - and Harry would hate it even more - so he had asked Mrs. Weasley for help. He figured that she was probably the only person Harry would feel comfortable around him during his chemo, however no matter how much Severus tried to justify it to himself, it still felt like he was passing off his responsibility for Harry.

"Severus," the Potions Master heard from the doorway bringing his thoughts back to the present. It was Draco coming down the stairs into the lab.

"Come in Draco," he said pointedly. "Take a seat and make yourself useful."

There wasn't another student, besides maybe Hermione Granger and one or two seventh years, he would trust to assist in his professional brewing, giving him no doubts Draco could help. The list of whom he could tolerate brewing with was practically non-existent, but Draco was here and he needed to get started on the hospital wing supplies being already so far behind.

"Do you think the headmaster believes me?" Draco asked much more nervously than either of his parents would want to hear from their child.

"I think had he not, you'd still be bound in that chair or worse, handed over to the Aurors," he wasn't going to start sugar coating things for Draco Malfoy. "Do you understand what you're getting yourself into?"

"Well, I don't really have much of a choice do I?"

"Of course you do," he sternly replied, stopping Draco from using too much lavender for the calming draught. "If you cannot concentrate, do not touch anything."

"He'll kill my mother and you know it," Draco continued, "if I don't take the mark."

"We can hide you both. The Order can," Severus explained solemnly. "He'd never find you."

Draco shrugged which was again not a gesture acceptable for any Malfoy. It showed the professor how disturbed his Slytherin was with the situation.

"You wouldn't do that," Draco was staring down at the mortar he was using almost too aggressively.

"You, Draco, are thankfully not me," Severus said honestly. "There's no shame in waiting this out; having a sense of self-preservation."

"That's interesting coming from the head of Slytherin," Draco spat back. "Why didn't you hide then?"

The former spy took a deep breath and ran his hand across his forehead wishing he could physically push his headache back, "My reasoning is between myself and the Headmaster."

A strained silence fell upon the room as Severus assumed Draco was running down the possible reasons he could have had to defect from the Dark Lord.

"No one knew," Draco broke the silence, "what side you were on." He added quickly.

"Well, that was the point of it all."

"I don't even know if the Dark Lord believes it now or not."

"Until I'm summoned, which after this long I would probably choose not to answer, there's nothing I can do about it either way."

Draco finally met his Head of House's eyes, "That's the only reason you're not fighting me about this right? You know you need someone on the inside."

"We - Draco - don't forget what side you've placed yourself on now," he warned the young blonde in front of him, "and yes, I do believe we need someone on the inside. However, I'm hesitant to think a 16 year old boy should be that person."

"But there's no one else! I'm in the perfect position to do this. Plus you weren't much older than I am now when you started."

Severus didn't reply to that statement, no good could come from agreeing or disagreeing with the teenager.

Instead he changed the subject, "While the room you'll be staying in this week is technically connected to my quarters, remember you'll be under the Headmaster's watch at all times. Take that seriously. Where does your mother think you will be staying?"

"She hardly keeps track of me anymore, usually just leaves that to the house elves," Draco grumbled, "but she knows about my mission for the Dark Lord, and thinks I'm with Zambini before taking the mark."

Severus thought about what that implied about Narcissa, but in the end he knew she'd do anything to protect her son. So even if Draco's excuse was weak, at best, she wouldn't turn him over to the Dark Lord should she discover his change of allegiance.

The potions were finally completed and ready to bottle only a short time later. Draco stepped in to help bottle and cork each one then affixed the labels appropriately. That task alone was a tedious one, which Severus was grateful for the assistance.

Draco put away the last empty phial, turned to Severus and asked, "What's wrong with Potter?"

The potions professor looked at his student skeptically not giving away how heavy of a question that was, "Why do you think something is wrong?"

"Well, he's staying at the castle isn't he?"

"Obviously. His home was destroyed only last week," Severus held his hand up to prevent the younger Slytherin from interrupting him. "It does not concern you. Lesson one, do not get involved in things that do not directly concern you; it will only distract you from your actual goals."

Draco clenched his teeth, then went to speak, but the sphere that had been sitting on the table turned bright orange. Severus looked down at the sphere, then dismissed Draco to his room before the blonde could make a single comment. This was going to be an extremely complicated week.

~~~~HP~~~~

There was one thing Harry hadn't considered since arriving at Snape's quarters; with his broken leg he could not get to the loo quickly when he needed to sick up. It made for an extremely uncomfortable day for the young wizard. Fortunately, Snape came up with the idea to charm the pail so once vomit hit it, it would immediately clean itself out. This definitely made things a little better because the first 2 times Harry needed to use the pail, he'd accidentally dropped it trying to carry it to the lavatory with his crutches. This week was not looking good for him.

He spent most of his time awake thinking about which Malfoy had visited Snape's quarters. Since Lucius was in Azkaban, it was either Draco or Narcissa and in the end, he was certain it had to be Draco. What he couldn't figure out was why his nemesis would be here in the middle of the summer holiday. He went through about half a dozen scenarios in his head, none of which sounded plausible. The Gryffindor had no idea that just that afternoon, another door was added to the sitting room next to Snape's office and potions lab for Draco. It was hidden within the bookcases with hope that neither boy would have any reason to know of the others presence.

By midnight, although no closer to solving the Draco question, he finally finished his letter to Dudley. He placed the letter on the edge of his desk as a reminder to ask Snape to send it in the morning. In the letter, he apologized to Dudley for his role in his parents' death which was awkward; it probably would have been easier in person, but he doubted he'd see his cousin anytime soon. He also made sure to tell Dudley he appreciated their new found friendship, and that he hoped to keep in contact. Harry genuinely wanted to be able to visit with his cousin again since he was actually missing the time they had spent together.

He was able to fall into a restful sleep, which is exactly what his body needed before the week ahead. By seven o'clock the next morning, Harry was up and at the kitchen table trying unsuccessfully to avoid breakfast yet again. Snape was back to making him smoothies and was intent on watching him finish most of it. Mealtimes were easily becoming his least favorite part of the day.

"Take these," Snape said, sitting down the small cup of medications when a piece of parchment popped onto the table announcing Healer Smithe's and Madam Pomfrey's arrival.

"Here we go," Harry complained going back into his bedroom after taking his tablets.

Healer Smithe was once again going to walk Madam Pomfrey through how to administer the chemo using his port so that they could rotate who would come by throughout the week, at all hours of the day, to change the bags. The healer explained how it was important for the medi-witch to always wear special gloves when handling the medication because they were extremely toxic if it made contact with her skin. After all this time, Harry hadn't known that fact and suddenly the awful side effects made a bit more sense to him when envisioning what was happening when it entered his body.

"Will I be able to move around?" Harry asked what was sure to sound like a stupid question.

"Technically... yes," Healer Smithe tentatively answered, "but the stand has to go with you, so you'll need someone to help because of the crutches."

"That figures," Harry mumbled. Leave it to him to need a shadow all week and just like that his mood plummeted.

"I don't anticipate you'll want to, but just in case - you can't bathe during the actual treatments," his healer added. "You should plan on doing that in the hour break you get between sessions."

Harry didn't even nod an acknowledgement for that one. Where he currently stood, he couldn't care less if he bathed at all throughout the week.

"What comes after this week?"

"Well," Healer Smithe started, "you'll get one more intrathecal after this chemo round is completed and we'll do another bone marrow biopsy at the same time to see if remission has been reached. Then you'll get a week off to recover and get your blood cell counts back up. Assuming I don't see any more cancer cells in the biopsy, then we'll move to the next phase."

Harry looked over to Snape for some reason unknown to himself. It was like having someone beside him during this was helping make him stronger, "And what if there are still cancer cells?"

The healer paused working on getting Harry set up, to give the teen his full attention, "Then we start the induction phase again, likely with different medications this time."

Oh, that sounded frustratingly like starting over. Honestly, there wasn't much he could do to impact it one way or another though, so he tried not to dwell too much over it; he would cross that bridge when he got there.

By nine o'clock that morning, he was hooked up to the first bag of chemo medication having finished the antiemetic. His schedule for the next seven days was 9am - 7am chemo, one hour break, 8am - 9am supplemental medications such as the antiemetic and morphine, before starting back on the chemo. From his experience, the supplemental medications would not last anywhere near the full 24 hours and luckily Healer Smithe anticipated his unspoken question - should the tablet versions not help, they would add a separate IV line for those. While it was nice that a contingency plan was ready, Harry didn't like the fact that they thought he would need it.

Once Healer Smithe and Madam Pomfrey left, Harry was laying across his bed without much else to do. For as busy as the morning was, now that everything was set up and all the questions were answered, it was very quiet with only himself and Snape.

"Since you can't get around on your own," Snape broke the silence, "someone will be in the quarters with you at all times. I've changed the charmed sphere to be a general alert to whoever is here as well as a duplicate alert directly to me."

Wait, so Snape doesn't plan on being here?

"Where are you going to be?"

"Unfortunately Professor Dumbledore has time-sensitive work for the Order I need to complete. I'll be in the castle at all times, but I may not be in our quarters.

"I've arranged for Mrs. Weasley to be here tomorrow as unfortunately I'll be gone most of the day. I'll know more about the requirements once tomorrow is completed."

Harry couldn't help but feel a little twinge of regret that the professor wouldn't be here through all of this. He didn't know when they had crossed the line from pure hatred to - well, whatever this was; Harry couldn't put a name to it exactly - but deep down he wanted Snape here.

The professor and student spent the morning playing chess and going over Harry's summer assignments he had started so far. He grudgingly thought it was nice to have someone to look over his work before handing it in. Yes, Hermione always looked over his essays, but he couldn't help feeling bad because she had her own assignments to work on plus Ron's and his to read through. Conveniently, neither mentioned the Potions assignment.

By lunchtime, Harry was feeling like he was going to die. Yes, he knew that was an exaggeration, as Snape pointed out, but that didn't help him work through the nausea, vomiting, and pain. A piece of parchment popped up alerting them to Madam Pomfrey's arrival. Harry barely noticed her presence to change out his medication, but managed to fall asleep shortly after her departure.

~~~~SS~~~~

Each night since starting the continuous treatment had been worse than the last. Harry was either in too much pain, too nauseated, or too worked up to sleep, and even though he never asked Severus to stay up with him, he could tell the young wizard was grateful for the company. So together they would spend every night moving from Harry's bedroom to the sitting room and back trying to find ways to pass the time before Harry would finally be too tired and fall asleep.

The delicate balance Severus had put together came crashing down on Sunday night, or technically it was early Monday morning. Harry had just completed his 60th hour of chemo and yet again they found themselves moving from the bedroom back into the sitting room for the third time that night. Severus settled his young charge onto the sofa, lifting his casted leg up onto the coffee table - something he would normally not allow - and wrapped a blanket around Harry's upper body trying to help keep him warm.

"Why does everything in me hurt?" Harry had been trying to be so positive about this whole process, trying not to complain, but Severus could tell he was now at the end of his resolve.

"Let's play some chess, it will help distract you until the morphine starts working again," Severus pulled out the chess board and started to set it up knowing it was futile.

"I don't want to play anymore bloody chess!"

"Harry," he said sitting down next to the teen on the sofa, "you've got this. I'll call Healer Smithe and he can put the IV line for the morphine if you need it."

"No," Harry said so quietly the professor almost didn't hear him; his body trembling. "I want this to stop; I'm done, I can't do it anymore."

Harry had his head cradled in his hands and Severus could hear him struggling to keep the tears away. This left Severus with a heavy heart reminding him of those last couple of weeks in his old reality, but he kept reminding himself that at least this time they were actively fighting against the cancer, not just waiting for Harry to die.

"You can't stop now."

"It's my body," Harry lifted his head, meeting Severus in the eyes and there was no hiding the fact he'd been crying. "I don't want to do it anymore."

"You're still considered a minor child," Severus explained carefully, "you cannot make a decision like this solely on your own."

"So you're going to force me? What are you going to do, drag me to the Healer?" Harry spat back, not too dissimilar from the way the Harry from his reality fought against the muggle treatment. "Are you going to hold me down while he stabs the needle into my chest? It's so easy for everyone else to say I can make it and I'm doing great, but you guys aren't doing this! You have no idea what this feels like!"

Severus used his Occlumency to remain focused on what needed to be done; to get through the night. In his old reality he had parental consent over Harry and here being his medical proxy gave him some rights but he had no idea how much, especially because Harry was already 16.

"All I ask of you is that you do not make this type of decision at your lowest point. If you still feel strongly when you're feeling well again, then I promise we can discuss other treatment options with your healer."

Severus didn't know what from his answer triggered it - maybe the fact that he would eventually get a choice - but Harry hung his head in his hands and started crying. When Severus saw the small, almost imperceptible nod, he let go of the breath he'd been holding for far too long. It was in that moment, when he laid his arm across Harry's back, that Severus felt his Occlumency shields crack and a single tear escaped his eyes representing all the grief, frustration, and now relief he had locked up inside of himself. They may have made it by this hurdle, but how many more were coming up.

By Monday evening, Severus didn't think there was a time he had been any more exhausted than at that moment. Trying to coordinate between Draco's training and Harry's health was becoming too much for the normally well put together, stoic man. He couldn't continue training Draco during the day and then be up all night with Harry. Molly was already coming over most of the days during the late morning and into the afternoon to stay with Harry while he trained Draco and he couldn't ask anymore of her. He considered skipping a day training with Draco, but if this afternoon was any indication, Draco couldn't afford to take any time off, which left Severus with few options.

Draco was having a difficult time concentrating that afternoon during their advanced Occlumency lesson, which caused an already irritated Severus to completely lose his patience with his student. He knew Draco had been given more than the basic Occlumency lessons at home, which caused Draco to be far more arrogant than usual. When he badgered Severus to really test his limits beyond what they've practiced and, as expected, his defenses absolutely crumbled, he then accused Severus of not giving him a realistic test. In the end, Severus stormed out of the office and Draco knew better than to follow.

He came back into his quarters later than usual. Most days, he tried to be back by half past three which is when Harry's medication was changed and then he would immediately start dinner, primarily for himself as Harry was surviving off smoothies and the odd snack here or there. Today he wasn't back until ten past five o'clock and hoped to Merlin Harry was asleep. He didn't think he could keep a clear head after the frustrating afternoon he'd had. To his delight, he found Molly in the kitchen pouring bowls of stew for dinner.

"Severus! Perfect timing," she greeted him cheerfully, "dinner is ready; sit down."

She waved her wand and a chair moved back making room for the professor to take a seat as a bowl of stew was levitated over to him.

"Thank you Molly," he said, picking up his spoon. "I'm sorry for being late."

"It's not a problem," she waved her hand at him. "You have plenty of other things on your mind right now, I don't need to be one of them."

Molly sat down at the other end of the table with her own bowl of stew and bread. They sat in a companionable silence and Severus thought it had to be odd for the witch as it's not something his counterpart would have done. If she had any suspicion about him acting differently, she never mentioned it; of course Molly probably wouldn't.

"How was today?" Severus asked, no other explanation needed between them.

"It was rough," she said honestly, "but we managed. Healer Smithe came by to add the other line."

"Hopefully that will help. Has he eaten?" The last week of chemo before the attack was hard on Harry's eating, so he'd been very aware of how much or little he was eating now.

"I managed to coax enough into him," she smiled. "Did I tell you Charlie came home for the summer?"

The professor frowned, while they'd been friendly with each other for Harry's benefit, they definitely were not small-talk level friends.

"No, you hadn't," he wasn't sure where this conversation was headed, but he knew the 2nd eldest Weasley rarely visited.

"After the Department of Mysteries, when Ron and Ginny were..." She sighed as if it actually hurt her to explain it. Severus nodded his understanding to spare her. "Well, it seems he wants to fight now."

Severus gave a small chuckle, "We can use all the help we can get. I'm sure Albus is happy to have him join."

"Oh, he definitely is," Molly explained a look of sadness crossing her face, "but that's not why I told you. We've got a full house back home right now, with him plus Bill and Fleur, so if you'd like I don't mind staying tonight to help you out. No offense, but you look like your candle is completely burnt out at both ends."

The professor rubbed his forehead, "Are you sure?"

"Of course Severus," Molly smiled at him, "Harry is as good as one of my own children. I just hate there isn't much else I can do for him."

"Thank you Molly, I would very much appreciate that."

She stood up and squeezed his shoulder and said before walking out of the kitchen, "Wonderful. I'll go firecall Arthur now and let him know."

Severus tried not to feel guilty, but it didn't work. The Severus of this reality had spent most of his time hating and avoiding people at any and all costs and yet the Weasley matriarch had no qualms helping him out. He was so grateful, more than he'd ever be able to express to her in words.

He started the dishes washing and went to Harry's room giving Molly some privacy at the floo. Harry was thankfully sleeping and appeared peaceful for once. Whenever Severus asked Alton if Harry's reaction to the Chemotherapy was normal, the healer always came back with each person reacts differently plus with Harry being a strong wizard, there could be a chance it's exacerbating the side effects. To him, that sounded like he had no idea, which was almost more frustrating.

By 7pm, he was sitting in the armchair by the fireplace with Molly on the sofa. He was working on next year's curriculum which was due to the Board of Governors next week and Molly was knitting, when the sphere glowed orange. Severus was about to get up but Molly immediately scolded him to sit back down.

Placing the curriculum work down he leaned back and closed his eyes. He could fall asleep almost instantly right there on the armchair, but not only would it be extremely inappropriate, he had heard a door open from across the room.

"Who's there?" He knew who it was; only one other person had direct access into his quarters without using the front door, which would have alerted him, or the floo to his left.

"Um, sorry to bother you Severus," Draco sounded nervous, which was unbecoming of him.

The former spy opened his eyes to Draco standing behind the sofa, "You cannot simply enter my quarters unannounced. Please give me the courtesy of knocking or using the front door."

"I just wanted to ask you a question about our lesson today."

Severus stared at the blonde Slytherin and then gestured Draco towards the kitchen. On his way there, he glanced down the hallway where he could hear Harry vomiting once again. Not remembering if had told Molly about the ginger ale he bought yesterday on a quick trip back to Spinner's End, he went to the cabinet to grab a glass of it.

"Take a seat," he told Draco, summoning a bowl that he filled with stew and heated with a warming charm before placing it at Draco's setting. "I'll be right back and then we'll discuss what you failed to understand this afternoon."

Maybe he was being too harsh on the teen, but if he couldn't handle a little push from Severus, he'd break apart in front of the Dark Lord. Severus justified to himself that everything he did was to keep Draco alive. One day, unfortunately, the Slytherin would understand.

"You're supposed to be resting," Molly lectured when he walked into Harry's room. The young wizard's face was drawn and pallid with dark circles under both eyes and he was sitting up leaning over the edge of the bed taking short, shaky breaths.

"I wanted to drop this off," he held out the glass. "It's a muggle drink made with ginger. It seemed to help a bit the last time."

Molly took the glass and sniffed it, only slightly offending the Potions Master. She then handed it to Harry.

"Thank you sir," Harry said just above a whisper. "I'll be ok, go get some sleep. You look awful."

"Like you should talk," he argued back. "If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen."

Harry nodded, which turned out to be the wrong thing to do because just as Severus was walking out the door back to Draco, he started vomiting once again. Severus closed his eyes hoping for some relief for the young man soon.

He was calmer than he had been when he'd left Draco alone in his office after their training session, so with any luck he'd at least get something accomplished with Draco today. As much as he didn't like the idea of Draco spying, it was really the best option for the Order and the least he could do was get Draco in a position to succeed.

"So there's nothing wrong Potter huh? Sure doesn't sound it... and why the hell is Potter staying here?!" Draco asked the moment Severus walked into the kitchen.

"It doesn't concern you," he replied, taking Draco's empty bowl to the sink.

"I don't know about that. I am risking my life for him; I feel like I should at least have all the information," Draco said smugly.

"With your abysmal occlumency, you're lucky to get the small amount of information you already have," Severus warned, getting worked up yet again, "What do you think would happen if the Dark Lord saw something detrimental to our side all because you thought you had the right to know?

"Get that righteous notion out of your head immediately Draco. From now on you're entitled to absolutely nothing, but you'll be expected to give everything; you'll do things that you will regret, that will make you sick, but have to turn around and appear to enjoy it all; you'll wish you could forget, but no matter how hard you try, you'll remember every face and every name of those you couldn't save. You'll be criticized and ostracized from both sides and the more that happens, the better the job you are doing. You'll need to be able to tell just enough of the truth not to get killed while protecting the important information with your life, and at the same time you will need to lie in a way that makes your audience believe they never had a reason to doubt you to begin with.

"If you don't think you can do all of that without knowing everyone else's business first, then you better walk out of here right now and stop wasting my time," Severus slammed his hand on the table directly in front of Draco once he finished.

"Merlin Severus," Draco said startled, "I was just asking since he's the pillar of our side, you would think if something were wrong with him, we should know."

"You're not to ask again, do you hear me? If you do, I'll go right up the Headmaster's office and tell him you're the wrong person for this job. Now get up so we can discuss just how much your supposed Occlumency skills were lacking today. "

"Yes sir," Draco finally said with a scowl on his face.

He followed his Head of House out of the kitchen back into the sitting room, realizing without a doubt that whatever was wrong with Potter was not only serious, but something the Dark Lord definitely shouldn't know about. Naturally, Draco was determined to find out exactly what it was.